1. Field of Invention
This invention is directed to electrical connectors, and more particularly to insulated electrical connectors and to insulating covers for use with electrical connectors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Insulated electrical connectors are used in many different environments, including, for example, control panels, switchgear, HVAC, motor controls, elevator systems, refrigeration systems, pull boxes, wireway, and any other commercial construction and industrial applications requiring multiple taps or splices.
Conventional insulated electrical connectors include an electrical connector encased within an opaque plastic housing which conforms to the shape of the particular connector. Such insulated connectors further include removable caps and plugs for covering the connector wire ports and screw ports which are not being used. These conventional insulated connectors typically are formed by inserting protective pins into the screw ports and wire ports and dipping the resulting connector assembly into a molten insulating material, such as an opaque plastic material. The assembly then is removed from the molten material, at which point the insulating material is allowed to cure or otherwise harden about the electrical connector. At this point, a hot knife or other cutting device is used to remove unwanted insulating material and expose the various pins so that the pins may be removed, thereby providing access to the various screw ports and wire ports. In an additional step, insulating plugs and caps are made and releasably positioned in the various screw ports and wire ports. This method has been used for years to make a wide range of types and sizes of insulated electrical connectors. However, the resulting insulated connectors have several drawbacks. For example, production costs associated with the "dip and hot knife" method are relatively high. Also, because removable caps and plugs are used, these separate pieces are easy to lose during the installation process. Once a plug or cap is lost, some installers attempt to cover resulting openings with tape, a solution which is awkward at best. In addition, because the insulating material is opaque, it is difficult, if not impossible, to see the various wire ports and screw ports during installation, making the installing process more time consuming and therefore more costly.
More recently, the electrical connector industry has seen the introduction of a different type of insulating cover for use with large-scale electrical connectors, i.e., connectors having wire ranges of: 2/0-14; 4/0-6; 350 MCM-6; and 600 MCM-4. In further detail, this type of insulated electrical connector includes a transparent flexible insulating cover made of a plastisol, with the cover being fully open at one end. Because the cover is relatively large, it is able to be fabricated with one end which is fully open and which may be covered by a separate removable large end plate. An elongated electrical connector bar, including screws mounted in the screw ports, is telescopically slid into the insulating cover, at which point a separate insulating end plate made of lexan or another transparent insulating material is releasably secured onto the open end. The insulating cover further includes a series of "star cuts" in alignment with the various screw ports and wire ports, thereby providing access to these ports while alleviating the need for caps and plugs. A wire or torquing tool then may be inserted through a particular star cut and into a wire port or onto a screw head, as appropriate, for securing wires to the insulated connector.
While this more-recently developed type of insulated electrical connector has been extremely well-received in the industry, the cover is a large-scale cover having two separate component parts, the flexible housing and the end plate. Accordingly, if a particular application calls for a small-scale connector (e.g., wire ranges such as 4-14), a conventional "dipped and hot-knifed" connector, with its associated problems, typically is used. Therefore, it would be beneficial to have a small-scale insulating cover offering the benefits of a transparent, flexible, insulating cover. It also would be beneficial for such a cover to fully encapsulate an electrical connector without the need for separate pieces, such as caps, plugs, or end plates.